Dino Zeo
by malhilli
Summary: DT/Zeo - Mesogog is sending his forces back in time to access older zords which he can use against the rangers in the present. Can the rangers stop him without erasing themselves from the timeline? Will they like their new timeline?
1. Chapter 1

**Mesogog's fortress**

"Clone, get in here! Same with you, Elsa"

"You bellowed, master?" Elsa asked.

"Tell me Esla, if you had a time machine, what would you do with it against the rangers?" The clone and Esla eyed each other nervously?

"You really can't do anything. If Tommy's life doesn't unfold exactly, you will never be created. This creates a paradox" interrupted the clone.

"True, but that's not the whole truth" hissed Mesogog as he walked behind the clone, breathing heavily on his neck.

"You could get access to old zords" Esla chimed in from near the monster machine.

"But all the old zords were destroyed! To save any old zord is to rewrite history, which could rewrite you out of existence!" facepalmed the clone in Esla's direction. "Worse, it would rewrite ME out of existence!"

Esla stuck out her tongue at him "The original zords, the Shogun Zords, and the Zeo Zords were not destroyed. When the evil Green Ranger returned, he was able to summon the Dragonzord while the White Ranger used the White Tigerzord."

"That doesn't prove anything. They could have been destroyed off-planet, or in a wilderness. You'd be sending someone on a wild goose chase" countered the clone. "Besides, even if we knew the locations of the old zords, we don't know the passwords? We don't know how to power them? We don't know how to control them?"

"We don't know, but the rangers of the time do" interrupted Mesogog. "A lesson Mercer learned in university is that the greatest vulnerability to a system is the human operators."

"But Master, we only know the identity of only one ranger from those times, Tommy. You want me to bring him here to torture the identities of the other rangers from him? It would be a pleasure, my lord" opined Elsa.

"Fools!" yelled Mesogog. "Rangers hang out together. Find Tommy in the past, see who he hangs out with, those are your Rangers!"

"Lord Mesogog, this is academic anyway. We don't have a time machine" said Elsa.

"Chronosaurus, get in here!" bellowed Mesogog.

The creature that walked in looked like a demented taxidermist's idea of Barney the dinosaur. It had Barney's basic body and color scheme, but its head was that of an an actual T-rex. Its legs and feet were that of a Brontosaur. It had wing-like hands ending in sharp claws. What drew everyone's attention was the large clock on its chest.

"You've been listening from the other room. What do you make of this discussion, Chronosaurus?"

"I would advise against tinkering with the Shogun zords, master. The time stream around them is strange. It's like a knot. I don't understand why? Nevertheless, I would argue against trying our luck with them".

"Very well" said Mesogog. "In that case, it's either the original zords and the Zeo zords. Can you get to either of them, Chronosaurus?"

"Yes Master. The Zeo zords appeared just as the knot ended, so I wouldn't risk sending anyone back when they first appeared. If I wait a few weeks, then should be fine."

"Very well. There are a lot more Zeo Zords than there are original zords anyway. I have decided: clone and Elsa will go back in time to get me access to the Zeo zords."

"How will I do that" interrupted the clone. "I can't exactly blend in, just walk into class and say 'Hi, I'm your new student?' I don't think even the idiots at Angel Grove High will buy that."

"Precisely" hissed Mesogog as he pulled out a bag with a lock of hair. "This is courtesy of Trent Mercer's pillow. Enter the genetic recombinator to get your human form. Elsa, you will act as his mother and legal guardian. Otherwise, your job will be to hide the thousand tyrannodrones I'm sending with you and to act as backup. Clone, you're in charge. Remember, blend in with the rangers of that time, get them to trust you, and get access to the Zeo zords."

A few minutes later, the clone stepped out of the genetic recombinator looking as a clone of Trent Mercer, wearing a zebra watch. "If you want to morph, hold the watch to your mouth and say 'Dino power, now!'".

 **Tommy's lab**

"Dr. O. it's Saturday. Why do we have to spar now? I've got soccer practice later. I need to be well rested for that" moaned Connor

"Well, I've got band practice later" guess who

"You guys need to train. Connor, I realize this is pushing you more than the other two, but you've got to build up your stamina and endurance. When I was a ranger, I'd been on missions which required me to be active for the entire day with minimal rest. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea for Kira and Ethan to pick up a physical hobby to strengthen their endurance" explained Dr. Oliver as he braced for the inevitable groans that followed. "By the way, that's not a suggestion for either of you. Ethan, please stop multi-tasking. I know you're playing a game on that laptop." More groans followed.

Suddenly, alarms blared throughout the lab.

Tommy pushed the chair out of his way with his left hand while bringing up the security camera image with the other. Having a wide view of the park, it showed Elsa, the clone, tons of Tyrannodrones, and a strange monster. The monster looked like a Velociraptor with outstretched arms. On the back were eagle wings. That wasn't the most unusual part of the anatomy. It had a drill tail and what looked like miniature guns embedded in the front of the wings.

"Ready" Tommy commanded the team.

"Ready" they all replied.

"Dino Thunder, power up!"

"White Dino power now!"

 **Reefside park**

Twenty minutes later, the rangers stepped in front of the advancing line of monsters.

"Stop right there!" yelled Tommy.

"Why would I do that, Tommy? I'm just showing my new friend Drillosaraptor around the park. He's new. In fact, perhaps it's time for him to meet you. He doesn't have many friends yet."

"The park's closed" replied Connor.

"We'll see about that. Tyrannodrones, attack!"

Drillosaraptor attacked Connor and Kira while Ethan was dodging kicks from a group of tyrannodrones. Tommy and Trent moved to attack Drillosaraptor, only to be intercepted by Elsa and the clone respectively.

"Give up Tommy!" shouted Elsa.

"Have you forgotten already Elsa?" replied Tommy as he delivered a kick to her chest which sent her sprawling.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Drillosaraptor launching a cloud full of feathers towards the other rangers. The cloud resulted in a huge fireball once it hit. Strangely, the fireball quickly disappeared. All but Tommy and Trent were lying on their backs, struggling to stand up.

"Enough of this", said Tommy. "Energy orb!"

Moving his Brachiostaff in a circle, Tommy created an energy orb. As he released it, Drillosaurus aimed a beam from his own mouth into the ball. The orb was halfway to its target when it imploded, pulling everyone in it.

From the bushes, Chronosaurus called forth the remaining tyrannodrones, ordering them to jump into the glowing orb before it closed. After they were through, he jumped in as well. Immediately after that, the orb collapsed on itself, leaving a charred and empty park!


	2. Chapter 2

**Angel Grove c. 1997**

With a shiver, Ethan and Kira woke in a park.

"What time is it? I'm going to be late for my rehearsal today" complained Kira as she scanned the sun while taking out her phone with her right hand.

"The phone says that its 2 pm, so we've been out for like two hours. However, the Sun in the sky looks more like 4 pm, so that means we've been out for about four hours."

"Are you sure the phone is correct, Kira? I'm not getting any signal."

"Good point, Ethan. The explosion might have frozen it for some reason. Oh man! My parents are going to kill me if I don't show up home by 5 pm. We're planning an outing as a family"

"Hey, did Mesogog rearrange the park while we were asleep?"

That snapped Kira out of her thoughts as she looked around. They were close to a lake larger than the one in Reefside Park. "Ethan, look at the people. Do you notice anything odd?"

"Hey, no one is talking on their phones!"

"That's it? I'm not Cassidy, but even I can tell you that the fashion is off. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Psst. Hey guys!" Startled, Kira and Ethan walked into the bushes, to find a crouching Connor.

"How long have you been there? Why are you hiding? You're acting weirder than usual."

"Ouch, Kira. I woke up on the other side of the lake. I just got here with my super speed. I stopped in the bushes so that no one would see me appear out of thin air."

"Sorry" said Kira as Ethan cleared a path for Connor to leave the bushes.

"Have you seen Dr. Oliver or Trent?" asked Ethan.

"No, but then again, I haven't fully circled the lake" replied Connor. "Guys, I'm getting worried. I'll try my communicator". As Connor puts his communicator to his mouth, Kira's and Ethan's communicators ring. "Anyone there? Trent? Dr. O? Hayley?" Connor practically yells into his communicator. No answer. He tries again. No answer.

"Ok, this is bad! Let's get the cycles and return to the base. I'm sure that if either of them woke up first, they'll be there" reasons Ethan.

"Are you nuts, we can't just leave them here? What if they're hurt and need our help?" yells Kira.

"Ethan's right. I didn't see them here. If we split up and search for them, it might take us longer than just returning to base. If they're not there, then we can use Haley's computer to trace their morphers. If their morphers don't work, we can coordinate a search plan with Haley. Besides, we can't split up with damaged communicators. That leaves us vulnerable for Mesogog to pick us off one by one."

"Connor's right, Kira. Besides, do we know our morpher is undamaged?" interjects Ethan. "Let's go into the bushes and try to morph". With that, all three of them sneak into the bushes.

"Dino Thunder, power up!" The three of them look at each other in their morphed suits. "All right! Raptor Cycles, now!" The Dino Rangers wait close to five minutes, but the cycles don't arrive.

"Duh! Our communicators are busted. Why do we expect that calling the cycles will work?" says Ethan as he kicks the grass next to him. "Let's get Dr. O's car and go back to base"

"I've tried to find the parking lot while trying to get a sense of this place" Says Connor. "I found A parking lot, but not ours. It's full of ancient cars, and none of them is Dr. O's" replied Connor.

"Weird! Why would an explosion replace modern cars with ancient cars?" asks Kira.

"I don't think it matters right now" answers Connor. "Either way, we have to walk. Let's walk to the Cybercafé. It's much closer. Plus, Haley keeps an extra computer there in the back room. We can use it to get in contact with her, and then use the camera system she and Dr. O installed to find them"

"Ok" reply the other two as all three of them dimorph. It's better that they not be seen as Rangers to avoid awkward questions.

10 minutes of walking later, all three are lost!

"How is this possible? No way is this Reefside! We must have been knocked into another town" complains Connor.

"Do you think this is one of Mesogog's traps?" asks Kira.

"I don't know. Either that or we've been blown into another city! At this point, I don't know which is more ridiculous?" replies Ethan.

"Look! There's a lady with a stroller. Stay here guys, I'll go and ask" says Connor as he begins a light run across the street. "Excuse me, ma'am. I know this is going to sound weird, but what city are we in?"

"You're in Angel Grove, son" replies the lady. "And My name is Lydia."

"Hi, I'm Connor. Those are my friends, Ethan and Kira." Connor says as he points towards the two Rangers who just crossed the street. "Guys, this is Lydia."

"Hi" say the two rangers.

"It's nice to meet you. Your friend just stopped to ask me what city this is. This is Angel Grove."

All three Rangers stare at each other with their mouths open?

"Are you kids ok? I'm getting worried here! Were you attacked by a monster? Should I call an ambulance?" asks Lydia as she looks around slightly panicked.

"Actually, can we borrow your phone to make a call?" asks Ethan.

"My phone? Sure, but it's back at my house; about 2 blocks away" replies Lydia. "Are you kids sure you're all right?"

"We're fine!" Connor tries to calm her down. "Listen, do you know where there's an internet café around here?"

"A what? I've heard of the internet, but I'm into all that hi-tech stuff." Lydia is clearly confused at this point. "Listen, if you don't think you need a hospital, why don't you go to the Youth Center? My older son hangs out there all the time. They've got people there your age. I'm sure someone who knows what you're talking about will help you out." With that, Lydia gives them directions to the Youth Center. "Good luck kids. I hope you find what you need?" Lydia waves as she resumes her walk.

Once Lydia is out of earshot, the rangers begin talking. "Angel Grove? We have been blasted into another city. Strange! I thought that that was something which only happens in cartoons!" laughs Ethan.

"Dude! Superheroes!" exclaims Kira as she waves her hand over Ethan's eyes. "Our lives are already cartoonish!"

"Hey, isn't that the youth center where Dr. O used to hang out when he first became a ranger?" asks Connor rhetorically. "Who knows, we might find something embarrassing there? What! Don't look at me like that. You guys aren't seriously thinking that you wouldn't like to have something to hold over Dr. O's head."

"Let's just go!" says Kira as the three of them head towards the Youth Center.

 **Angel Grove downtown**

The first thing Dr. Oliver hears is the sound of an ambulance siren. As he opens his eyes, he notices the paramedics approach him with a stretcher. Through the fog in his mind, Tommy sees a semicircle of people surrounding him.

"Wait…people!? Did they see the battle? Did they see me demorph? Are the rest of the rangers ok? I can't use my communicator with witnesses." the thoughts push half-formed into Tommy's mind. Before he can do anything, he is secured onto the stretcher and moved into the ambulance. The paramedics are too busy checking his vital signs and only notice that he's awake when they check his eyes to see if he's responsive.

"Are you ok, buddy? That was a nasty fall you took. According to eyewitnesses on the scene, that was a 10-foot drop. You're lucky you didn't land on your head or neck. Before I came to Angel Grove, people falling out of the sky would have seemed ridiculous. Were you kidnapped by Rita and Lord Zedd?"

"Rita and Zedd are dead" Tommy says as he tries to get his thoughts in order. That answer was met with cheering in the ambulance. Even the driver was cheering.

"Wow! Did the rangers destroy them? Did the new machine people do it? You must have been so lucky to witness their destruction" shouted the excited paramedic attending Tommy. The other paramedic glances back at the excited paramedic, whose face turns bright red. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way".

"That's fine, don't worry man" replies Dr. Oliver. Machine people? Is he talking about the Tyrannodrones? Granted that they are mostly machine, but he's never heard anyone in Reefside refer to them as 'machine people'. Could these be some new villains? "What day is it?" asks Tommy.

"It's Friday, sir" replies the paramedic.

Friday!? He's been knocked out nearly a week? Impossible! He would have died of thirst. Could these new 'machine people' have kidnapped him and the other rangers, held them, and then erased his mind "Oh shit!" Tommy yelled out loud. The other rangers! Are they all right? Are they still prisoners? Are they out wandering with erased memories? "Keep it together" Tommy says to himself.

"Calm down buddy" the second paramedic intervenes. "I don't know what's happened to you and how much you know, but this isn't the place for you to try and piece things together. You have to control your blood pressure, at least until the doctor can figure out what, if anything is wrong with you. Just sit back and let us do our job."

Tommy's thoughts rush through like a dam just burst. "That's not good! The last thing I need is to be detained for days in a hospital. I know Hayley will insist on it, but I can't let whoever did this have that much of a head start. Do I still have the power of invisibility? I can't check it here; I'll have to wait until I have privacy in my hospital room to try it. In the meantime, just relax and think of an alibi. Be cool!"

Ten minutes later, the ambulance pulls up to a hospital. As he's being carried out, Tommy spies the parking lot. "No way! Those cars are ancient! Just what type of hospital is this? No matter, the shittier the hospital, the easier it is to leave" he thinks to himself. He is wheeled into a hospital room where he's introduced to Dr. Raddler. The first paramedic hands Dr. Raddler's assistant Tommy's driver's license to register him in the database. Looking through Tommy's pockets, the paramedic also removes the keys to Tommy's house. Tommy pales as he realizes that he forgot his phone at home.

Dr. Raddler performs a physical examination, then sits down in the chair next to the bed and proceeds with the mental evaluation.

"What is your name?"

"Thomas Oliver"

"Where do you live?" Tommy gives his address.

"Reefside? What are you doing so far from home? Or were you kidnapped in Reefside? That would be strange, since so far monsters have only attacked Angel Grove?"

Tommy has to control himself to avoid laughter. Angel Grove. That city hasn't been attacked in over 5 years. Plus, has this doctor missed all the ranger teams that have cropped up since Astronema's invasion? Still, it's better to go along with the doctor so he'll be left alone to try his invisibility. Dr. Raddler then resumes his line of questioning with more uncomfortable questions. "You say that you don't remember anything since Saturday? What is the last thing you remember before you blacked out?" As Tommy struggles to come up with a coherent alibi, the assistant comes in. The doctor and the assistant converse in a corner of the room, both of them occasionally glancing at Tommy with a scowl. Tommy can't make out what either is saying, although he notices the assistant pulling out Tommy's driver license before putting it in a plastic folder and walking out of the room.

"Well…it looks like other than a bit of dizziness and amnesia, you're fine. Listen, I hate to have to do this, but we have a problem. My assistant tried to register you, but she ran into a problem. The name on your driver's license matches that of a local high school student. We have witnesses that you suffered from a monster attack, but identity theft is a serious crime! Just because monsters are attacking is no excuse to ignore the normal laws. My assistant has called Angel Grove PD, and they're sending some officers over. They'll want to ask you a few questions. I'm posting a nurse outside your door until they get here." Seeing Dr. Oliver's face, the doctor becomes stern and says "That's not negotiable. Call her if you need anything." With that, Dr. Raddler walks out.

Tommy waits a minute to make sure no one else enters, and then he becomes invisible. Celebrating, he tries to get out of bed, only to fall on the floor as he's hit by dizziness. Checking to make sure he's still invisible, Tommy grips the bed as he tries to get used to walking again. After a few minutes, he feels confident enough to let go of the bed and walk around the room. Just then, he hears what he assumes to be the police officer talking outside the door.

"All right men, this is your first serious case. We may have a case of stolen identity. Now the person in that room has been involved in a monster attack, so we can't assume that he's guilty, but we can't assume he's innocent either. Dr. Raddler believes that our man is hiding something. You two will watch me interrogate him to see what the real story is." The door opens and Tommy is so surprised he nearly drops his invisibility. Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone walk in. No, that's not correct. A high school version of Bulk and Skull with a much younger Lt. Stone walk in. Plus, they're wearing police uniforms. None of them have been policemen in years! Bulk and Skull walk in, survey the room. Both open their mouths, making that annoying sound they used to make when they were scared as they point around the room. "Looks like our man has escaped!" says Lt. Stone. "Fortunately, he's left his clothes on the rack in the closet. Spread out and search this hospital. He couldn't have gotten far in a hospital gown." All three of them leave the room, not shutting the door. Tommy sneaks across the room. Making sure no one is coming down the hallway; he quickly changes into his regular clothes.

"This doesn't make any sense!" thinks Tommy as he puts on his morpher. Fortunately, the hospital staff mistook it for a bracelet and left it on the desk next to the closet. The dam breaks again. The ancient cars in the parking lot. The paramedic talking about Rita and Zedd. He did mention the 'machine people'? That must be the Machine Empire. It couldn't have been Divatox. Good thing I forgot my cellphone. There would be no way I could have explained that! They probably would have thought it was a monster. I would not want to have to try and answer those questions." Tommy chuckled at that thought. "How did I get sent back in time to Angel Grove? The blast must have opened up a time portal" There was no other logical explanation for this.

As Tommy was strolling down the hallway towards the assistant's desk, new thoughts arose. "What about the other rangers? Did they get transported back in time as well? Shit! I'd better find them before they get into trouble. Or worse, before they change the past!" Tommy notices that the desk is empty. There's a manila envelope on the top of the pile. Rummaging through it, Tommy locates his driver's license and keys. Checking to make sure the coast is clear, Tommy heads out of the hospital.

 **Angel Grove High School, principal's office**

"Hi! My name is Elsa Randall! I've just moved here from Reefside. I'd like to enroll my nephew, Trent Mercer into Angel Grove High!"

"Good afternoon, Ms. Randall? I'm Mr. Kaplan. If you'll fill out these forms, we'll be happy to have your nephew join our family here" says Mr. Kaplan as he pulls out a set of papers from his desk. "Listen, son! While your aunt is filling out the forms, feel free to look around the school. Unfortunately, all our teachers and TA's are busy at the moment. However, you look like a responsible young man. Tell you what. If you want, you can take a tour of the building yourself. Just be back here in an hour, ok?"

"Thank you very much for your trust sir." says the clone as he shakes Mr. Kaplan's hand and walks out of the office. Walking through the halls gives the clone time to think. The clone has Trent Mercer's memories up until Anton Mercer broke the hold of the white Dino Gem on Trent. Since the clone is the essence of the white Dino Gem, he was knocked unconscious at that point. He was only revived when the cloning device was run through the replicator. This means that the only time HE walked in a school was when he held onto Trent Mercer.

The hallways are nearly empty, which gives the clone some much needed space. They bought a three-bedroom house with a big backyard. The backyard was shaded by trees, so some of his forces could sometimes go outside. In practice, this meant that he and Elsa had the backyard to themselves, since they were the only ones with human forms. Despite all that, the house felt suffocating with everyone squeezed in. Fortunately, only the monsters had to sleep; the Tyrannodrones merely shut off standing up. Nevertheless, a chance to get away was to be savored.

The clone was so lost in thought that he barely noticed entering a room full of primitive computers. He did notice a gasket form in the middle of the room and move towards a computer. Correction, it looked like a comic book interpretation of a gasket, with a sky in the middle. It stopped behind a chair, and a robot fell out!

The clone let his instincts take over as he ducked beneath the nearest table. The robot looked around the room to make sure it wasn't seen. Satisfied, it waddled to a blue backpack and pulled something out. Apparently, it got what it came for since the gasket returned. The robot jumped into the starry middle and both vanished.

What are the chances that this is not ranger-related? The clone could barely contain his smile. He walked to the backpack and pulled out a notebook. Hey, the robot just rummaged through it! If anything was not in order, it would get the blame. "Rocky de Santos" was written on its outside. He opened the notebook. In the sleeve behind the front cover was a picture of six people. He only recognized one of them – a younger version of Tommy Oliver. Bingo! Checking to make sure no one was in the room, he pulled out a digital camera from his pocket and photographed the picture. Checking to make sure the picture quality was good; the clone put the camera back into his pocket, and then put the notebook back into the backpack.

"I hope the rest of the trip is this easy" said the clone to himself as he sprinted through the hallways.


End file.
